The 12-year-old victim of the second shark attack off the north Queensland coast has been named as Hannah Papps, who remains in a critical but stable condition in hospital.
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The Melbourne girl was flown to Lady Cilento Children's Hospital in Brisbane on Friday afternoon and her family issued a statement a few hours later.
"We would like to thank everyone who has helped and cared for Hannah, including the police, emergency services and the hospital teams," the statement said.
"We ask that everyone, including the media, please respect our family’s privacy during this very difficult time so we can focus our energies on Hannah’s recovery.”
Hannah was on holiday in the Whitsundays with her father and sister when she was bitten in Cid Harbour, off Whitsunday Island, on Thursday afternoon. RACQ CQ Rescue had originally advised media that the family was from New Zealand.
Hannah was airlifted to Mackay Base Hospital in a critical condition and transferred to Brisbane.
She was mauled less than 24 hours after Tasmanian tourist and avid snorkeller Justine Barwick was bitten by a shark in the same harbour.
Three baited drum lines put in place on Friday were expected to remain in and around Cid Harbour, off Whitsunday Island, for a week and potentially the entire school holiday period, to reassure visitors.
Drum lines use baited hooks attached to metal chains floated to attract sharks away from beaches but can also capture them. Caught sharks could be killed on the spot if they are deemed a "dangerous" species.
On Friday afternoon, Fisheries Queensland shark control program manager Jeff Krause said the species of shark responsible for the attacks was still unknown.
Whaler sharks and tiger sharks were the two predominant species in the area that could be behind the attacks and bites marks on the victims could determine the culprit.
Mr Krause said any sharks caught in the three baited drum lines, which were rolled out on Friday morning in response to the two recent attacks, would be assessed.
"The policy is that if the shark is deemed to be dangerous by having a history of attacking humans, the shark will be humanely euthanised and possibly given for research," he said.
Those shark species listed as "non-dangerous" by the shark control program will be released alive.
Mr Krause said it was a "unique" and "unprecedented" situation to have had two attacks in such a short period of time.
“Traditionally the Whitsunday Islands are a very safe place to swim and have been for decades," he said.
"We would advise people to not go into that Cid Harbour area, visit other places in the Whitsunday Islands instead and swim in those places."
Mr Krause said while it was not known whether the same species of shark was responsible for both attacks, research into sharks' behaviour suggested they do not usually attack again.
Griffith University marine ecologist Johan Gustafson believed the two shark encounters were "test bites".
"Sharks can’t see, so they use their mouths. I think these were investigative bites," said Mr Gustafson, who has studied shark attacks.
"If the water is dirty, sharks can’t see people, so they are more likely to be chasing prey and a person just happens to be there.
"If a shark wanted to attack, we [humans] don’t come back from that."
Mr Gustafson said while he understood the decision to roll out drumlines to reassure swimmers, he suggested an alternative response to the shark bites.
"People want to know they are safe ... so the Fisheries Department had good reason to put drum lines out," he said.
"But, rather than drum lines, why don't we put swimmer exclusion nets in a smaller area?
"It gives a barrier that encloses the beach and guarantees swimmer safety in the area."
Mr Gustafson also advocated for a government subsidy for electromagnetic shark repellent devices.
"Every shark has a sensor on its snout. It senses stressed fish through their muscle movement and heart rate, because in dirty water they can’t see their prey but can sense something there.
"Devices like Shark Shield create an electromagnetic field that affects their sensors and repels them."
Before Wednesday, the most recent attack in the area was eight years ago.
Sea World marine services director Trevor Long told reporters shark attacks were "very unlucky and extremely unfortunate" in the "relatively safe" Whitsundays.
"This is a tropical area. There’s probably four species that could be involved in it, probably the worst of those species would be a tiger shark," he said.
Fisheries Minister Mark Furner said fisheries officers and water police boats were patrolling the area a few hours after the attack.
“Shark attacks in these waters are rare. That’s why these events are so shocking."
The baited drum lines aim to reduce the overall number of sharks in the area, but do not provide an impenetrable barrier between swimmers and marine life.
- with Luke Sayer and AAP
